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Solar Eclipse 2017 Discussion Thread

Eleeski

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Any predictions on traffic? Specifically on 84 heading east from Boise? Weiser is hosting a big party at the fairgrounds or city park. That might be fun but if I'm at risk of gridlock I can go to Vale on back roads that should be open.

The forecast travel time from Portland to Salem is 5 hours - that doesn't look like too many miles. Now I'm terrified of the traffic! Things like this get overblown - but I really don't want to be stuck on the outside.

And I want to get out easily - I'm going waterskiing that afternoon.

I might fly Cessna but none of the airports in totality have gotten back to me. No plane parking? Someone from Pugski offered me a farmer's field in Madras (I'm OK landing off pavement) but the Madras airport as a safety backup has been booked solid for a while.

Maybe I was mistaken to encourage people to see the eclipse. Forget those redneck scientists in RVs. Stay home and watch TV. The 10,000 times more light with the 95% eclipse will be the same as totality. Who really needs to see spectacular things in person? Watch it on the internet. Or deny the whole thing as a hoax (I was in 95% and it didn't get dark).

No, sharing the goods rocks. Just be smart about the travel. And don't Bogart that empty back route!

Eric
 
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crgildart

crgildart

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Any predictions on traffic? Specifically on 84 heading east from Boise? Weiser is hosting a big party at the fairgrounds or city park. That might be fun but if I'm at risk of gridlock I can go to Vale on back roads that should be open.

The forecast travel time from Portland to Salem is 5 hours - that doesn't look like too many miles. Now I'm terrified of the traffic! Things like this get overblown - but I really don't want to be stuck on the outside.

And I want to get out easily - I'm going waterskiing that afternoon.

I might fly Cessna but none of the airports in totality have gotten back to me. No plane parking? Someone from Pugski offered me a farmer's field in Madras (I'm OK landing off pavement) but the Madras airport as a safety backup has been booked solid for a while.

Maybe I was mistaken to encourage people to see the eclipse. Forget those redneck scientists in RVs. Stay home and watch TV. The 10,000 times more light with the 95% eclipse will be the same as totality. Who really needs to see spectacular things in person? Watch it on the internet. Or deny the whole thing as a hoax (I was in 95% and it didn't get dark).

No, sharing the goods rocks. Just be smart about the travel. And don't Bogart that empty back route!

Eric

There's a big storm forming off the coast of Washington. Should be totally dumping rain and mudslides on the whole PNW Monday..





iamtotalitykidding
 

Mothertucker

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Starting to get excited about the eclipse since the weather might cooperate. Wyoming is usually pretty good about not clouding up until the afternoon.

http://www.wyoroad.info/Eclipse/WYDOTEclipse.html

Wyoming DOT eclipse page is posting all the expected construction zones. Looks like I'll have to negotiate a "pilot car" work zone on the Hoback Rim on my way up to Granite Creek, which is about 2.5 hours north of me. I bet that'll add an hour wait at least. I'm hoping to watch the eclipse while soaking in Granite Hot Springs, but that would be very lucky indeed.

I watched an almost total eclipse in April 1979 in Idaho Falls, but I was coming off a night shift at the Naval Reactors Facility, and was totally bushed. It got very dark just as I was getting off the bus. Just one more cold day in the coldest winter I've ever experienced (1978-79).

Geez, it's hard to type ECLIPSE.
It has been mostly cloudy with showers in western Wyoming for the last week, although we got a good clearing Friday night for the Perseids. Grand Targhee will live stream the eclipse from the summit web cam, not sure if any tickets are left tho.
 

TonyC

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I watched an almost total eclipse in April 1979
That would be February 26, 1979, and you needed to be farther north in Montana. Lonnie Ball saw it from the Ridge at Bridger Bowl.

Except that to a non skier or non sky watcher, ice vs powder doesn't matter and partial vs total eclipse doesn't matter.
Which is why I made that analogy. We all know that non-skiers don't fully understand the difference between skiing ice and powder. Similarly 99% of readers here don't fully understand the difference between a partial and total eclipse for the same reason; they have never experienced a total.
Specifically on 84 heading east from Boise?
That would be NW from Boise into eastern Oregon, historically the sunniest August climate on the entire path. But climate is what you expect and weather is what you get. Skiers know we need to be watching those forecasts carefully, and not trust them much until they stabilize and different models are consistent. It's nice to see Joel Gratz is going to make periodic forecasts over the next week.

Many total eclipses have overhyped traffic predictions. Plan for the worst, get on the road before dawn from Portland or Boise and you should get there and set up in plenty of time. And if you can hang out somewhere to let the initial crunch leaving after totality clear, you'll save lots of aggravation.
 
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SpikeDog

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Only thing I remember about the nightshift at the Naval Reactors Facility in Windsor,Ct was the Three Mile Island meltdown on 28Mar79. I wanted the Navy to send me to Idaho so I could ski at Grand Targhee. We must have been in Orlando at the same time (Class 78-05). Did the cold make for good skiing that winter?

I was in class 78-02 (MM ELT), and I spent all winter skiing. Mostly Kelly Canyon, but a few trips to Sun Valley, Grand Targhee, and Bogus Basin. Beaucoup snow that winter, and I got stuck a lot in my '73 Toyota Celica with crap tires on the ski hill roads. Three Mile Island happened the day I graduated from A1W Prototype, but I still kept my dream alive of working in the nuclear industry. I was working at Hanford during the summers while I was in college (chemical engineering), but then Chernobyl happened. I was at N Reactor, which was graphite moderated and had no protective dome, so the similarities to Chernobyl doomed that facility. I haven't been tempted to return to the field since.

It has been mostly cloudy with showers in western Wyoming for the last week, although we got a good clearing Friday night for the Perseids. Grand Targhee will live stream the eclipse from the summit web cam, not sure if any tickets are left tho.

The rain here in Rock Springs has been unrelenting. I tried to get the back yard mowed last weekend, but had to stop midway. The dogs have no idea what to do with that mohawk down the middle of the yard. Today's weather report shows it partly to mostly cloudy on 8/21, which could really SUCK! I was at the Targhee Music Festival this summer, and they were really pushing the eclipse tourism button down in Driggs.

That would be February 26, 1979, and you needed to be farther north in Montana. Lonnie Ball saw it from the Ridge at Bridger Bowl.

Well, it was 38 years ago, and I've slept since then. 12 hour shifts and 1.5 hour bus rides to and from the INEL will mess up your sense of time.
 
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ZionPow

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We are going to a friends house in Driggs ID for the eclipse. I am taking my mountain bike and hoping to get a few rides in while there. We are expecting significant traffic delays but I don't have to be to work until November so we should be OK!
 

Eleeski

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Given @SpikeDog 's weather forecast and @TonyC 's advice to leave so early, I will go west from Boise. Safer traffic but no Sun Valley... And no water skiing at the lakes near there. That's OK, Caldwell has the site of last year's Nationals so it should ski well and I have an invite there.

Getting excited.

Eric
 

Don in Morrison

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If it had happened last week when I was in southern Idaho, the glasses wouldn't have been needed. The smoke was so thick you could look straight at the sun. It was a big red disc.
 

DanoT

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If it had happened last week when I was in southern Idaho, the glasses wouldn't have been needed. The smoke was so thick you could look straight at the sun. It was a big red disc.

I am currently at Sun Peaks in south central B.C. and the smoke is so thick that most days you can't even see the sun. There are something like 140 fires actively burning and there have been over 800 fires since April. Some of our smoke could find its way south.
 

Tricia

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The skied at Jackson Hole have been fairly cloudy. Hoping the crowd that they're expecting gets clear skies.

It would really suck to put a ton of time and money into a destination trip for this and have cloud cover block the view. :(
https://jacksonhole.roundshot.com/rendezvous-lodge/
 
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crgildart

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Got a cousin in Salem OR. Said her kitchen and fridges are fully stocked and every bed and couch in the house is spoken for... Ready for a house full of guests Monday hahahaha...
 

TonyC

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It would really suck to put a ton of time and money into a destination trip for this and have cloud cover block the view. :(
https://jacksonhole.roundshot.com/rendezvous-lodge/
That would be 2 years of pestering JHMR about tram tickets, buying 57 of them last September, arranging lodging for 36 of those 57, and busily attending to late details over the past couple of weeks before we leave tomorrow.

Nonetheless we will abandon those tram tickets, get up before dawn on 8/21 and go elsewhere if necessary.
 

Jimdh

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In the Boise/Weiser area, there seems to be more concern of smoke from western fires than clouds. We'll see. We're heading north to the cabin by Donnelly - may watch from the top of Tamarack. We decided to take the :58 seconds of totality over 2 minutes in Weiser simply because we don't have AC at the place in Weiser - and if we're stuck there with traffic - AC in Weiser in August is a real good thing.

Question for you eclipse pros: during totality is it ok to look at the sun with naked eye, or do we still need to wear the glasses?
 

Tricia

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Question for you eclipse pros: during totality is it ok to look at the sun with naked eye, or do we still need to wear the glasses?
You still need glasses.
 

Tricia

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DanoT

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That would be 2 years of pestering JHMR about tram tickets, buying 57 of them last September, arranging lodging for 36 of those 57, and busily attending to late details over the past couple of weeks before we leave tomorrow.

Nonetheless we will abandon those tram tickets, get up before dawn on 8/21 and go elsewhere if necessary.

@TonyC, in case you missed my post about the fire smoke in B.C., if you do have to move due to weather problems, taking a route and destination that is farthest from B.C. would be best.
 

Snowfan

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Question for you eclipse pros: during totality is it ok to look at the sun with naked eye, or do we still need to wear the glasses?

You still need glasses.

During totality its glasses off. You would not be able to see anything with glasses on. Stay safe and pay attention, the sun will begin to reappear in a maximum of 2 1/2 minutes. Then its glasses back on.
 

Snowfan

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http://www.eclipse2017.org/roundtable/topic6.php
eclipse.PNG
 

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